Personally being a fan of fey creatures, coupled to the fact of being the kind of gamemaster who is of opinion one can never have enough different mobs to throw toward players in a multiverse campaign, I bought a printed copy of 'Fey Folio: Clans of the Fey Realm'.
The buyer get a lot of interesting fey creatures, ranging from 1/3 CR toward 21 CR, accompanied with high quality artwork of the different creatures in a beautiful matching color palette.
You not get only the full stats and the pictures, but you get also information what drives each creature to get a better insight of them.
Further, the booklet also contains 2 pages with GM's reference (keys to playing the fey & gamemaster hooks for low-, mid-, and high levels) and 1 page with magic items.
Layout and editing are top-notch. Everything said that needed to be said, this creature book is of a noticeable high standard on many levels and a must have for any GM.
Verdict: 'Fey Folio: Clans of the Fey Realm' is well deserved worth its 5 stars.

good book very well done has caused some interesting gameplay
4/5 because the hard copy of the book causes some OCD problems and storage issues
as it isnt the same size of the pathfinder books yet the pages are.
its a dimension thing im sure but man ocd is bad for me

So, after a brief introductory text that introduces us to the subject matter with well-crafted fluff, we enter the meat of this book: Much like previous Cerulean Seas-expansions (which btw. is the must-have underwater-adventuring resource for PFRPG), this one depicts in lavish detail a part of the submerged world and the plethora of options that accompany it - after venturing to the lightless depths and the frigid regions of the world, this book basically can be considered to be the Far Eastern supplement for Cerulean Seas. If you're new to these books, rest assured that we begin with the level of precise detail one can expect from the whole series: From types of lakes to environmental peculiarities, rules-relevant and concise basic information sets the stage for the things that are to follow, namely, the more detailed components.

But unlike Cerulean Seas supplements so far, there is a crucial secondary twist to the subject matter at hand - a distinction between salt- and fresh water, between the themes of assimilation versus tradition...but more on that later. In an admirable level of involvement with the setting, anthromorph and merfolk subspecies are revisited and explained as how far they work within the context of Celadon Shores, before we're introduced to the respective new player character races. Part of this is a new humanoid subtype, the kamigei, which are aligned with a particular eastern element, which can then, as a supernatural ability, add minor elemental damage. The subtype also is in tune with nature and receives resistance based on the associated element.

The new races mentioned before are interesting - for one, taking breathing and the ability to exist in salt/fresh-water into account - in a world where depth tolerance and swim speed are most important, e.g. the avian Benitsuru may be interesting, but their lack of gills means that they are severely limited - and the focus on underwater adventuring means I actually for once will not complain about a race that begins with a fly speed instead of upgrading gliding wings. And yes, each of the races herein has at least one flavorful, interesting and unique trick, like knowing the weather. The heikegani crab-people adhere to a code of honor reminiscent of the samurai and sport an artwork that is downright awesome. The lobster-like creatures begin play with deadly crab-claws as well as Improved Grapple and may utilize their power over metal to form it into objects - an intriguing one, though a rather powerful race.

The hitogoi carp-people, denizens of freshwater, are accomplished craftsmen, while sea kappas have a cool twist: These kappa sport a bubble on their head - as lunged creature, they need to resurface to refill their bubble, otherwise following the mythology regarding the Strength-draining effects of a kappa's bowl being emptied. The four-armed mizugumo, bell spider-like centaur-y individuals with 4 arms may be powerful, but needing both lungs and requiring fresh water means that they ultimately are fragile as far as their ecological niche is considered. Like the heikegani, though, they can be considered one of the more powerful races that can cause issues in less high-powered games that handwave the complex interactions of depth etc. and have a different focus. And yes, they can weave spider silk. The Mizugumo also have a lopsided attribute-distribution in favor of the physical, while the river ningyo is lopsided in favor of the mental attributes.

The shark-like Sembito with their blindsense, blood fury and emphasis on physical attributes similarly are a bit lopsided in their focus on physical prowess. The bioluminescent Suibo, gorgeous jelly-fish people with their tendrils and boneless bodies similarly adheres to this, slightly more advanced power-curve, while the fearless Uobei, based on betta-fish, once again adhere to a slightly more conservative racial balancing. The races all feature age, height and weight tables and generally can be considered to adhere to roughly two different power-levels -there are some races here obviously intended for lower-powered games, while the others exceed them, but remain on a level playing field amongst themselves. Now noted, depth tolerance and racial buoyancy as well as lungs/gills and salt/fresh-water all constitute balancing mechanisms that can be used to reign them in, but it's still a component I wished had been handled slightly more streamlined, perhaps with scaling options for the races.

The next chapter would be devoted to class options, with a short discussion on class roles in the context of Celadon Shores being the first component...and thereafter, we have samurai orders. Not one, not two - 7 full-blown orders with their own edicts and abilities can be found on these pages, constituting the single largest concentration of orders designed for the class I know of. The order of the crab is an order of dedicated bodyguards that can mitigate attacks on allies, while the order of the crane is a specialist of non-lethal combat and taking foes in alive. The sebek-ka-exclusive order of the crocodile is thoroughly devoted to the emperor and may enhance their defenses with a variable mystical armor that allows for some flexibility regarding special qualities added. The order of the imperial dragon may negate crits/sneak attacks a limited amount of times per day and is basically the most "default" feeling of the orders, while the order of the shark can cause retributive bleed damage and, at high levels, maintain functionality while near death - and even transcend death, provided he can keep on dishing out ever increasing amounts of damage. The order of the snake gets poison use and vindictive, retributive attacks, while the order of the wheel is all about the elements and a serene understanding of the forces of the world, allowing him to ignore certain amounts of damage a limited number of times per day. All in all, a flavorful, well-crafted array of diverse orders here!

The book also contains multiple relatively complex archetypes for your perusal, the first of which would be the hoiyomi wizard - these guys don't have spellbooks; instead, they have spell tattoos, which they can quickly and temporarily apply to their skin. Beyond regular magical tattoos, they also receive at higher levels the option to spontaneously convert spells into blasts of energy and their familiars similarly are tattoos they can call forth from their skin. Nice one! And yes, the capstone ability allows them to make the tattoos of targets rip them practically asunder.

The kawakage is an archetype of the mariner class, modifying the movement superiority of the base class to particularly affect the interaction with rapids, waves on water and even offer land speeds that don't suck quite as hard as those of many a race herein - particularly in a world where the land/fresh/salt-water differences become important, this one makes for a well-crafted, intriguing choice. The Yamabushi presented here would be a variant of the paladin class who is particularly focused on upholding the natural order and as such, opposed to the undead, though at the cost of lay on hands and mercies.

The book also sports two base classes, the first of which would be the Godaikishi, who gets simple and martial weapon as well as shield proficiency, d10, 2+Int skills per level, full BAB-progression as well as good Fort- and Will-saves. The class is determined by the attunement with a mystic element, with an additional element being gained at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter. The element chosen determines other class abilities and changing attunement is a full-round action. While unarmored, the class adds Wis-mod to AC and CMD and sports a scaling bonus as well, though the attuned element determined the additional effects conveyed by this mystic armor, ranging from being treated as spiked to offering protection versus the cold climate. At 5th level, a similar enhancement based on the attuned element is available for the weaponry of the class. The class can also generate an elemental lash to add to his regular attack, a kind of elemental-themed smite, if you will, with daily uses scaling over the levels.

2nd level provides a 1/2 level-based scaling elemental touch as well as growing resistance versus elements that can later be extended to allies. Said resistance also becomes full-blown immunity at higher levels, which is interesting. At 4th level, these guys can unleash the elemental touch within sight as a ray...though one that could have used a proper range - as written, it's line of sight - granted, not as far underwater, but still...fixed values tend to be less prone to abuse than sight. 4th level provides arcane spells of up to 4th level, curiously governed by the Wisdom modifier, which need to be prepared and are drawn from the spell-list of the class. Higher levels provide SR and full-blown immunity to spells and effects of certain descriptor and, rather intriguing, the capstone is similarly variable and dependant on the attuned element. All in all, a well-crafted elemental-themed class that did not bore me - the relative simplicity of the class and its great magical defenses make this a relevant addition to the game., though I really wished it got 4 skills instead of just 2.

The second class is the Wokou, who gets d10, 4+Int skills per level, proficiency with simple and martial weapons as well as light armor and buckler and gets full BAB-progression as well as good Reflex-saves. They also begin play with an animal companion - and this is pretty much one factor of the class: Basically, the wokou is a teamwork-based pet-class with a front-line fighter who can ignore difficult terrain, with higher levels providing size-increases, abilities like evasion and (improved) uncanny dodge and the like, while also sporting a secondary focus on intimidating foes. There's nothing wrong with this class, but it is very linear - not much choice or strategy beyond the base framework. Not bad by any means, but not mind-boggling either.

The book also sports two PrCs, both spanning 10 levels. The Mambabarang gets d6, 4+Int skills, 1/2 BAB, Fort- and Ref-progression and 1/2 spells per day progression...and the PrC is kinda awesome, if disturbing: You see, the idea here is to imbue spells with a range of touch in Vermin, which then receive improved defensive capabilities. The spells are then delivered to the target touched by the vermin. Yes, this is tactical and narrative gold. Furthermore, unnatural lust regarding vermin to recruit creepy-crawlies, gain a vermin companion and yes, they can make their creatures explode and clothe themselves in a halo of bugs - awesome, unique, fun and perfectly functional beyond the confines of the waves, this is one of the best vermin master/caster type of takes I've seen in a long, long time. Kudos!

The Tsuwamono is a lawful PrC that gets d10, 4+Int skills, full BAB-progression and 1/2 Fort-progression as well as DR increasing from 1/- at 6th level to 5/- at 10th. They offer 1/2 challenge-progression and gain attribute bonuses as well as physical-attribute dependant bonus feats. At 4th level, they can manifest an ephemeral imperial sea dragon and maintain his presence for 4+Cha-mod rounds. 9th level allows them to 1/day declare an attack a natural 20 or maximum damage - both requiring the use before rolling the respective dice. A solidly-crafted PrC with a nice blend of unique abilities and a more common ones. Nothing to complain, though not as awesome as the Mambabarang.

Oh, but the lands of Nikaikoku have so much more to offer: The next chapter not only has detailed information on currency etc. - it also sports a colossal amount of weapons and armor - the weapon table alone spans two-pages! And yes, mounts can be found here as well and suffice to say, many of the weapons have rather lavish full-color illustrations, something that btw. extends to armors. And yes, the balance here is tight - kudos! Very important for the dynamics of this book would also be the Hitogoi inventions, which contain e.g. an apparatus that allows the wearer to breathe saltwater as though it were freshwater or bioluminescence suppressors. A significant array of racial feats can also be found here, though going through all of them would bloat this review even further. The array of new spells also features the respective dichotomy between salt water and fresh water and provides a pretty intriguing array of well-crafted spells - racial trail spells that provide continuous damage, loud gong strikes - the spells range from numerical effects to those that make sense from a utility perspective - nice. 5 magical items and 5 mystic shards can be found here as well - the latter of which represent the elements and probably, the fractured balanced of the very world: There is, for example, ghost water, which does not dissolve anything and refuses to freeze. Similarly, true steel or livewood allow for nice, mystical tricks - basically, these can be considered to be interesting magical materials that you can use for puzzles, explaining how things work and so much more. It's an uncommon item-class, but one I really adore.

The fifth chapter of this book covers the setting-information and as such. sports a glorious map of the area covered as well as information on sample cities, factions, languages, histories and deities as well as the racial histories of the people there, including remarkable NPC-write ups, though these remain fluff-only, we receive an inspired chapter that should suffice as a gazetteer to the region.

The next chapter once again displays one of the most impressive aspects of the Cerulean Seas - the bestiaries: The creatures sport awesome artworks, are concisely created and usually sport a whole array of unique abilities: What about a cross of a long-hair witch and a coral? Yes, this is just as disturbing as you think it would be. Or Foo Otters and Seals? Sea Worm/Cephalopod crossovers? Newts equipped with howdahs? Snail-Oni? Killer clams with tentacles? Oh YEAH! And trueform river otters made me flash back to South Park, but in an awesome way. As always, we get appendices: Monsters by CR and source book (and by freshwater/saltwater), a brief pronunciation guide (!!!), an index of tables, an index of art by artist, cardstock minis for PC-races and a colossal, detailed index that makes handling the book easy. Finally, we close with a brief haiku - as befitting this tome.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no significant glitches - kudos to Margaret Hawkswood, Patricia Hisakawa and Steven O'Neal. Layout adheres to Alluria Publishing's gorgeous two-column full-color standard and the pdf is fully bookmarked. Both cartography and artwork are STUNNING - the artwork in particular is absolutely gorgeous and reaches Paizo/WotC-levels in most cases - this is a truly gorgeous, beautiful book.

Emily Kubisz, with help from Sam G. Hing and Cameron Mount, has crafted yet another fantastic addition to the Cerulean Seas canon - this series of books continuously maintains an exceedingly high quality standard and produces a vision of a world both alien and familiar - one that suffused by the believable. Even biologists among my friends comment on how the books feel "right" to them, concise and ultimately, "realistic" - as far as a completely flooded world of fish people can be. But beyond the obvious usefulness in a Cerulean Sea context, quite a lot of the pieces herein, from classes to archetypes etc., can easily be scavenged for landlubbing Pathfinder campaigns - while the design-aesthetic tends to focus less on player agenda and variance than I'd like and while the balancing of the races is not always perfect, these components ultimately do not unduly mar the package as a whole: Celadon Seas sports a huge array of truly inspiring components and ideas, has a great bestiary and the overall quality is certainly impressive. The unique ideas like the mystic shards are inspiring -and I really wished the book had done a bit more with them, introduced perhaps devices or vehicles based on their fluctuation of the like - but I can't put that omission forth as a valid means of criticizing this book.

While I am not sold on the balance of all the races and while I really liked only one of the two classes, 1 of the PrCs, and at least the class/PrC components can be chalked up to personal taste....and there's a lot of other cool crunch to adore. In the overall context of this book, the flaws literally remain a drop of tainted water in the gorgeous, endless sea. My final verdict will hence clock in at 5 stars.

The Relluk-race as presented in Alluria Publishing's Remarkable Races-series has always been a favorite of mine in concept and imagery rather than in mechanical execution - strange, headless, crystal-topped living constructs that actually are balanced? Nice! The Sunken Relluk is more than a modification of serial numbers, though - beyond a modified imagery that makes the massive Tiki-style masks with bifurcated arms, the sunken relluks do sport some unique modifications. Racial stat-wise, they get +2 Con and Cha, -2 Dex, racial buoyancy +25 and immunity to pressure (if using the Cerualean Seas-rules), are medium and have a swim speed of 40 ft. Sunken relluks do have a constitution score and have less immunities - they "only" receive immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, petrification, disease, nausea, the sickened condition and energy drain. They do not need to sleep, but still have to rest to prepare spells. To offset these massive bonuses, relluks may be healed by spells and effects targeting the living or constructs, but only at half efficiency. And yes, this extends to ability damage. Sunken Relluk gain +2 natural AC and may, as a standard action, belch forth boiling water to an adjacent square, dealing 1 point of steam damage. (see Cerulean Seas -or just substitute fire damage if not using that book) - their crystals emit light as a torch, but strangely do not penalize Stealth.

It should also be noted that sunken relluk lack their landborne brethren's ability to regulate their heat - out of water they quickly overheat and die, and information that imho belongs into the racial abilities, not exclusively amid the flavor-text of the physical description. Sunken Relluks also may add a vast array of so-called power-gems to their form -they can thus add armor spikes to their form, with magical gems providing a diverse array of benefits -and generally, I like the idea here, though the rules for them do not provide any slot-overlap with magical items, so that's something to take into account - but it is represented in the massive costs of power gems, so yeah. The pdf dos sport age, height and weight information alongside a selection of 8 racial feats.

The racial feats essentially constitute adaptations of relluk racial feats and like some of them, they are ridiculously weak - take Boiling Gore: 1/day, after dealing damage with a gore attack granted by another feat, you add 1d8 steam damage to the same opponent as a swift action. Swift action. Once per day. 1d8. Seriously? Where I can I sign up to one of the worst wastes of a feat-slot I've ever seen? I would have very much appreciated an upgrade here... 1/day 120 ft. jetting away at a speed of 120 ft. is better, but the non-scaling limitation does not make this a good choice either. The other feats remain in this category, btw.

The pdf does provide a racial PrC, the Kahikua, who gains d8, 8+Int skills, 3/4 BAB-progression, 1/2 ref- and will-save progression. This class can be considered a variant of the ARcheovitus PrC of the landborne relluk, with e.g. stonecunning and ruins walker being replaced with better options versus traps - apart from that, no modification.

The pdf closes with two statblocks for frozen and sunken relluks and advice on integrating them into your game. There are no favored class options or traits included.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, thoughnot perfect - I noticed some minor hiccups. Layout adheres to Alluria Publishing's beautiful 2-column full-color standard with a bunch of glorious, original top-tier full-color artworks and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Emily E. Kubisz's sunken relluks are conceptually awesome and they actually play differently from their land brethren - with armor gems being absent from them and power gems as a system allowing for unique customization options, this modification and system can be considered useful for regular relluks as well. The production values are superb, so that's also great. At the same time, I sincerely hoped the feats had been properly upgraded. The absence of favored class options and traits is also a bit disappointing and the PrC's new content boils down to two none-too-inspired abilities.

Whether you consider this worthwhile very much depends on whether you already own the regular relluk or not - if so, then you have to be aware that you're getting Cerulean Seas-support, nice prose and the power gems - almost everything else in addition is a straight adaptation of the base relluk's content, without further streamlining of polish. The PrC, like its original version, remains a pretty weak choice and the feats are horribly bad choices. Still, I like this race. Especially if you do not have the original book and are intrigued by the race, you'll want to get this - and if you're playing a relluk, the power-gems may be just up your alley. At the same time, this may be solid, but it is not mind-boggling or great; this does have some rough edges that could have been polished off. In the end, my final verdict for these relluks will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up due to in dubio pro reo to 4 for the purpose of this platform.

Format: 2-column, with a single information table spreading from side to side. Overall, laid out well and easy to read. I noticed 15 typographical and grammatical errors while reading, but they were mostly unimportant and did not cause confusion or diminish the quality of the book.

Art: The front cover art is cropped from an interior piece, and the back cover has what appears to be a cropped photograph of a moth. 7 pieces of interior art, 6 of which represent various Entobians and 1 half-page scene featuring 2 Entobians in a forest. All of these interior pieces are in color and of very high quality; they make a strong impression and immediately made me want to play a character of this race. Many insectoid creatures from bestiaries are hard to relate to but the artists for this book (Dean Spencer and Eugene Jaworski) did a great job humanizing the Entobians and making them look like real adventurers and characters rather than monsters.

The Entobian: This book presents a new race of six-limbed "insect people" to be used for making player characters or NPC's. They are very interesting creatures in the sense that they begin play in a larval form, but may take special Metamorphosis feats to drastically change their form, both physical and mental. Before getting into the mechanics, there is a page and a half dedicated to describing the Entobians' physical features, ecology, society, relations to other races, alignments and reasons for adventuring. This is all quite flavorful and definitely worth reading. At the end of the descriptive section, there is a chart listing the vital statistics for generating random starting ages, heights and weights.

Larvite, the basic Entobian, has these racial traits: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Wis; Small size with the appropriate adjustments; Fast speed of 30ft.; Familiar Foe, granting a +1 to attack versus vermin; Insect Mind, granting +2 bonus to saving throws against charm spells and effects; Natural Weapons in the form of their 2 mid-legs dealing 1d4 damage; Skilled, granting +2 to Acrobatics and Climb, lost after metamorphosing; Spin Silk, the ability to create 30ft. lengths of silk rope that biodegrades after a day, lost after metamorphosing. It is possible to play with these abilities all the way to level 20, but if you choose to take the Prepare for Metamorphosis feat, you can take a further feat to metamorphose in several different ways, described below. These special feats are irreversible and mutually exclusive. Before applying a metamorphosis feat, the Entobians are genderless, but their new forms are strictly divided with only one female form—the Matron. The Larvite's body resembles a caterpillar.

• Coleophite, available at level 7, changes the basic racial traits, trading the ability scores for increased Con and Str at the expense of Dex, adding natural armor, situational DR and able to fly at a speed of 25ft. with poor maneuverability for a number of minutes per day equal to their level. Coleophites resemble beetles.

• Eulite, available at level 9, changes the basic racial traits, trading the ability scores for increased Str and Wis at the expense of Con, adding darkvision, adding shocking grasp as a spell-like ability usable once per day and flight with a speed of 30ft. with good maneuverability a number of minutes per day equal to their level. Eulites resemble moths.

• Farfalite, available at level 8, changes the basic racial traits, trading the ability scores for increased Dex and Int at the expense of Con, adding displacement once per day as a spell-like ability and the ability to fly with a speed of 40ft. with good maneuverability for a number of minutes per day equal to their level. Farfalites resemble butterflies.

• Larvite Lifer, available at level 6, gives up your chance for metamorphosis and increases your size to medium, your natural attack damage die to 1d6, and also increases your height and weight, as shown on the aforementioned chart. This form is the only one that does not require Prepare for Metamorphosis.

• Matron, available at level 15, is unique in that you choose two of the other forms and blend their mechanics together, as well as increasing in size, as the Lifer. The Matrons resemble a cross between the chosen forms.

• Moscanite, available at level 7, changes the basic racial traits, trading the ability scores for increased Con and Dex at the expense of Cha, adding low-light vision, acid resistance, the use of acid arrow once per day as a spell-like ability and the ability to fly with a speed of 30ft. with average maneuverability a number of minutes per day equal to their level. Moscanites resemble flies or mosquitoes.

Apart from these feats, there are several others that an Entobian has access to, starting with Prepare for Metamorphosis, which basically acts as the feat Toughness until you actually metamorphose, at which point the extra hitpoints are lost and it becomes a feat-tax. The other feats include one that improves a Larvite's ability to make silk rope, even allowing its use in a limited capacity after metamorphosis. There is a feat called Glowworm that allows the Larvite to shed light from their abdomen as a free action that sounds neat at first, but as-written, the ability is lost after metamorphosing, which seems a shame for an Entobian planning on becoming a Lightseeker.

After the section on feats, the book details an Entobian-only prestige class called The Lightseeker, who are designed as fast, roguish spelunkers who double as front-line fighters. They have several good abilities, and I'd definitely be tempted to play one for mechanical and flavor reasons.

The final section consists of example stat-blocks for the Larvite, Coleophite, Eulite, Farfalite and Moscanite, all with class levels. This is a helpful section for seeing the possibilities, but it is unfortunate that there was not room for an example Matron or Lightseeker and I did notice a few mechanical errors in these stat-blocks. In the example Larvite's, the melee section says that it only has 1 natural attack instead 2. The example Coleophite has acid resistance, with no corresponding feat, special ability or class feature to explain how. The example Farfalite was missing the section pertaining to melee attacks entirely. I did not pore over them for very long, so it is possible that there are some errors I missed, but these examples are not that important to the book as a whole. I count the Larvite's as a typographical error in the Format portion of my review, but the other two are harder to categorize without speaking to the writers.

Verdict: I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. The metamorphosis feats add a lot of versatility to this race and all of the flavor text and great artwork drew me in, immediately making me want to introduce this race to my campaigns.

Format: Mostly 2-column, with information tables occasionally spreading from side to side. Overall, well laid out and easy to read. I found 14 typographical and grammatical errors, but they were not serious enough or prevalent enough to mar the experience.

Art: Art on the front and back covers are duplicates of interior art. 5 pieces of interior art, 4 of which represent Relluks of varying types and 1 representing special gems. All art is in color and of high quality.

The Sunken Relluk: This book presents a new race of living constructs as a playable race for use specifically in the Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting, but is usable in any aquatic setting. The Sunken Relluk has no movement speed on land, and cannot survive above water for very long without magic, so it may be hard to integrate in more traditional campaigns.

The Sunken Relluks have quite a bit of written material describing their physical bodies, ecology, relationships to other Cerulean Seas races, etc. and most of it is quite interesting and well-written. They are essentially stone heads with living wooden masks formed into a covering shell, from which two arms extend but no legs. Instead, they have 3 pipes jutting out which they jet water and steam from to propel themselves through the water. At the top of their face-like body is a receptacle for a soul crystal which houses their essence. A Sunken Relluk does not age but if their bodies are destroyed, this soul crystal may be removed and installed in a new body. This is in some ways similar to reincarnation, with certain proclivities and predilections being retained, but all memories and abilities being lost. Essentially, the new one is a level 1 version of the old, free to make their own life decisions going forward. With a finite number of soul crystals in existence and no way to make more, some Sunken Relluks calling themselves Kahikua have taken it upon themselves to build new bodies, recover old crystals and act as guardians to their history and way of life.

The racial write-up has a list of immunities and vulnerabilities related to being a living construct, as well as a few special abilities. First of the special abilities is their use of Power Gems, which may be implanted into their bodies in special sockets for decorative purposes. If you get a matching set of 11 stones, they confer a boost similar to Ioun Stones, with each type having its own bonus and price, listed in a handy table. Their second special ability is the use of Boiling Spray, which acts as a very short-range breath attack, as the name suggests. Thirdly, their soul crystal constantly provides the luminescence of a torch. After the racial write-up is a selection of several racial feats that may be taken, ranging from granting a gore attack to the ability to jet quickly out of combat or have a single mismatched gem in your set.

Also included are rules for the Kahikua Prestige Class, race-restricted and with a focus on knowledge and avoiding or disabling traps.

Lastly, we are given 2 stat-blocks for: A variant Sunken Relluk and; An example NPC Sunken Relluk with class levels.

Verdict: I like this race a lot, and would readily choose it for use in an aquatic campaign. Just make sure to note that this race cannot survive on land. It may not be the strongest race around, but the flavor makes up for it, in my opinion.

The Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting is a comprehensive guide to adventuring beneath the waves, as well as a complete campaign setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Within the pages of this book you will find new subsystems like boyancy, drag and plunging attacks, new ocean-based races and classes, as well as a host of new feats, spells, equipment and magic items to enhance your game beneath the waves.

I love this book. I am completely infatuated with the premise of the setting, and I really appreciate all the hard work and dedication that went into making this book. The authors consistently refer to the book as a tome, and they are absolutely right. At 288 pages this is a meaty volume, and every inch of it is packed with options and rules for making any underseas campaign enjoyable and different. There is more here than mere novelty value, too. The authors have thought long and hard about how to make an underwater campaign setting unique and special, and it really shows. In addition to all the new player options found within this book, there is some very good GM material, including a simple and elegant way of doing three-dimensional combat without breaking the Pathfinder system. Admittedly it requires you to actually build your own game aids, but the process is explained in detail and it really is simple to follow their instructions and create the neccesary components. The 3D system by itself is worth the price of admission, and the detailed and setting neutral material makes it an ideal book for GMs seeking to flesh out the oceans of their campaign worlds with unique races and civilizations beneath the waves.

The Cerulean Seas setting by itself is interesting and compelling, as well as being well written. But the real draw of this book for me is the setting neutral way the book is presented. You really can discard all the setting specific material (though I don't know why you would, as it's a very good setting) and use the new rules found in this book to run your own underseas campaign in your own world.

The love that went into this project is easy to see. And once you see it, you will share it.

The Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting is an excellent book, well worth the money and full of new, awesome content that can slot into any homebrewed campaign setting. Just buy the book, read the first six chapters and you are ready to go. Or you can set your game in the Cerulean Seas setting, and really see the book come into it's own.

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
GMs will love the new rules and features of the submerged setting, while players will rejoice at the new, exciting options of adventuring beneath the waves.

Oh boy, that's a lot ground to cover, so let's get started! Emily E. Kusbisz's introduction explains what to expect from this book: First of all, all races introduced by Cerulean Seas-books get their own entries and the book also contains ALL Cerulean Seas-creatures contained in the various bestiary-chapters of the respective books released so far - several of which actually get new and improved artworks. Yes. Since artworks were a weak point of Alluria Publishing's oeuvre. /sarcasm. Seriously - if you're not familiar with Alluria Publishing's offerings: These books look GORGEOUS. The artworks are often on a level that surpasses even what one can see in Paizo's bestiaries. Yes, that good. But this is no mere compilation - we actually also get a rather significant array of new creatures - which by themselves would probably warrant the asking price.

"But I don't use the Cerulean Seas campaign setting!" you're saying? Well, the book takes the time and explains in detail the little peculiarities like depth tolerance, buoyancy etc. and explains how to hand-wave them if you're so inclined. What I'm getting at is - this massive TOME is a stand-alone product that does not require Alluria's other books. Even regular Pathfinder campaigns can draw from this material with ease. (Though any aquatic adventure benefits from having the very best underwater resources ever penned for any iteration of d20, but that's just my opinion...)

The three subtypes of humanoids introduced by Cerulean Seas are also explained here before we take a look at the icons/creature glyphs that have become not only a staple, but a joy in every bestiary the folk at Alluria release: Each statblock comes with easily identifiable glyphs that denote the particular subtype AND geographic region in which the creature can be found. I didn't believe it at first, but when pressed for creatures and skimming through these pages, the glyphs offer a significant amount of comfort for the beleaguered DM to choose the right creature at a glance. Now, if you're looking for the original book in which some of these creatures have been released, a simple glance also unearths that, for the respective books also get their own glyphs. Adding the strawberry to the whipped cream, psionic creatures (fully compatible with Dreamscarred Press' Psionics Unleashed / Ultimate Psioncs) also get their own glyph that makes it easy for fans of psionics to find them and for detractors of psionics to avoid them. Additionally, green dots mark player character races and beyond even the massive array of creatures from the Cerulean Seas-line, we also get references to Alluria's excellent Fey Folio and Remarkable Races-series.

Now since I can hardly detail every creature herein without blowing this review up to novel-like lengths, let's instead take a broad sweep, shall we? take for example the Mohir - representing the apex of the CR-spectrum herein (which ranges from CR 1/8 to CR 25), these behemoths of the deep sea may resemble angler-fish that let whales look like toothpicks, but they also are something different - sleeping titans from a past unimaginably long gone or visitors from another planet, Mohirs can send just about all creatures their gaze encounters into a dread, madness-filled stupor, unleash deadly blasts of plasma from their glowing tentacles or, yes, suck in all but the nimblest of foes. Terrifying engines of annihilation, these beings make even the mighty song dragons, of which this book delivers a whopping 13 varieties, tremble. Speaking of impressive apex predators - the new Leviathan Devil should also be counted among these threats - beings of vast power, these titanic hunters represent the ultimate expression of the sahuagin's ideal of a hunter. And yes, at CR 20 they'd also make superb avatars of Dajobas or Sekolah in campaigns featuring these two entities.

Also rather interesting in a low CR-spectrum - the tentacled, orb-like douselings at CR 4 - predators of all things magical, these beings are superb guardian creatures that come with a constant antimagic field - ouch! Speaking of ouch - what about aquatic lycanthropes? Were-crocodiles, were-rays, were-seals, were-sharks and even were-squids can be found within this book, finally bringing the dreaded curse to the realms below the waves.

There are also new creatures herein that simply made me hungry - the CR 14 Meganantantia, for example: A whale-sized shrimp-like being that actually manages to look rather badass. Whale-sized. Shrimp. If these creatures existed irl, I'd be so all over them... At this point the reviewer prepared his favorite chili-garlic-shrimp-ceviche before returning to the review Among the more fun creatures herein would be the Moat Monkeys at CR 3 - remember those Sea Monkey-kits and their advertisements in various comic books etc.? Remember how dissatisfied we were when the actual creatures hatched and looked nothing like the humanoids depicted in the drawings? well, these creatures actually ARE those humanoids and stand ready to finally put an end to many a childhood disappointment...or as a safe way to exact revenge fantasies on them. Nice!

Not all creatures herein are beings of the oceans, though - brine and swamp, marshlands etc. also get quite a few rather iconic beings - take for example the swamp nixie - these fey may absorb and metabolize poisons and spit them at adversaries - oh, and eating them is not a smart idea...

Speaking of smart re mind - aforementioned psionic creatures also get new additions to their ranks herein, with for example the deep sea-crab-like psion-race called Oceanari at CR 8. Have I mentioned the extremely awesome looking septapi, the 5 different types of ships of the damned (though these are haunted by some minor issues), the beach-combing, acid-spewing clawed Soak Bugs? Old man-like fey swathed in cloaks of crabs or intelligent aquatic fungi waiting for the "stars to align"? the sheer amount of monsters herein is staggering, but does not constitute all of the pdf's offering.

4 simple templates, a brief discussion of monster types in aquatic environments, an art-index that properly credits all the incredibly talented artists that worked on this book, a glossary, a pronunciation guideline, extensive lists of aquatic weapons, armor and geopoisons, 8 pages of feats, aquatic environmental conditions (and e.g. rules for breaking through ice), 20 pages of aquatic spells and powers, indices of monsters by CR, by terrain type and by monster type and an extensive list of aquatic animal companions complete the deal and make sure that navigating this massive behemoth of a book remains comfortable. Have I mentioned that the index of appropriate creatures also extends to the Bestiary 4? The book also closes with a nice short poem, has has become the tradition with Cerulean Seas-books.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. In a book of this size. Go figure - it's possible! Editors Ben Welsby, Jeffrey Turner & Steven O' Neal have done a great job! Speaking of a "Great Job" - the layout adheres to Alluria's beautiful, slightly blue-tinged Cerulean Seas-standard and complements nicely the artworks. I've been there all the way through the d20-heyday and have a vast collection of bestiaries on my shelves and HD. The artworks in this one mop the floor with some books released by Wizards of the Coast and Paizo. Let that sink in. I'm not kidding when I'm saying that this book is the most beautiful bestiary I've ever seen a 3pp produce - PERIOD.

-all of you artists DESERVE this shout-out. Why? Because almost universally, the interior art of roleplaying products has a hard time living up to the cover. Not so here. While not all of the artworks are this mind-blowing, the vast majority (and we're talking about 98%) actually ARE. Yes, that beautiful. This book is insanely gorgeous to look at and even casually skimming through these pages makes you want to use these creatures. The only bestiaries I could mention from the top of my head that reach this abject level of beauty would be Legendary Games mini-bestiaries - but those work on a completely different scale.

What makes this even more impressive is the significant amount of organization that went into this bestiary - from extensive nested bookmarks to the appendices, using this book is as easy as humanly possible - also for non Cerulean-Seas-campaigns, thanks to the advice provided.

The new creatures are varied and live up to the highest standards one could wish for, often featuring not only one, but several unique signature abilities and making clever use of the rules. Moreover, even simulationalist DMs should get their fair use out of these creatures, as they feel at times as if taken from the deep sea biology book of another world - they make sense and feel coherent, logical in their niches and yes, even in the titanic sizes some of these beasts reach.

Reviewing this book was a monumental task that made me get even a tiny glimpse of what putting this together might have been like - a labor of love if there ever was one that breathes its flair from every single page and illustration.

The team of authors Sam G. Hing, Emily Kubisz, Jeffrey Turner & Matthew Cicci (many of which you should know as some of the finest monster-crafters out there) have woven a tapestry of creatures both profoundly disturbing and alien and at the same time beautiful - these pages perfectly encapsulate the wonders of the Deep Sea that are instilled by documentaries, diving etc. and add the spark of fantasy creative people tend to experience when confronted with beauty.

Superbly useful, supremely edited with production values of a whole new level that surpass even most kickstarted products (and their higher art budget) this book is THE ANSWER for any DM looking for any type of aquatic critter. Personally, I can't imagine running "Skull & Shackles", "Savage Tide", "Freeport" or "Razor Coast" without the creatures herein (or the Cerulean Seas Campaign book, for that matter) - and in the context of the Cerulean Seas this book should be considered even more as something all but required. And yes, I was impressed - what drove me to the point of sitting slack-jawed at my desk was the price-point. At this quality, $20 would not have been too much for the pdf. Now look closely at the price and page-count. Yeah. I guarantee you won't find a better bang-for-buck-ratio in ANY bestiary out there and honestly, even for the massive array of new creatures, the price would have been justified. This book is one of the rare examples that you can show to people and brag - gorgeous in production values and content, this demands to be rated as the apex of what can be expected and is hence a candidate for my Top Ten of 2013. Final rating? Oh, if only there were six stars. Since there are only five, I'll instead settle on that and add my seal of approval. Books like this make reviewing worthwhile.

If you only remotely are interested in beautiful bestiaries and awesome aquatic monsters, then this should go into your shopping cart right now.

So what is the Azure Abyss? Essentially, it is the aquatic equivalent of the Underdark - the unfathomable depths and after a basic introduction including a glossary we delve into the hostile terrain that is encountered in the very lowest depth of the sea - abyssal depths and hadal depths - 10.000 ft beneath the waves until 20.000 feet for abyssal zones and below that, the hadal zones. Terrain, from trenches to sediment to mini-ecosystems that spring forth from the cadavers of massive beings to finally cold seeps, infectious slimy warts and mussel beds. Hydrothermal vents, acidic zones, megaplumes (essentially aquatic volcanic eruptions) and 6 forms of geologically poisoned areas as well as pools that act as teleportation gateways further suffuse the depths, making for a crunchy and thoroughly intriguing toolbox to spice up your terrain.

The second chapter details deep sea-races and kicks off with a revisited section on other aquatic races that allows you to create deep sea versions before providing new aquatic races, which of course include buoyancy information and depth tolerances. The first would be the Asterak, who gets +2 to Int and Con,-2 to Str, count as merfolk, get darkvision 60 ft, may 1/day utilize shocking grasp, electricity resistance 5, can control their bioluminescence and are susceptible to low depths. beyond these luminescent creatures, we also get aquatic dwarves - the austorian Dwarves. They get +2 Con and Wis, -2 Cha, pressure and geopoison immunity, slow swim speed, darkvision 120 ft., breathe only water, get +2 to appraise, cold resistance 5, +2 to saves versus poisons, spells and spell-like ability, may move on land at 75% of their speed, stonecunning, +4 to CMD versus bull rush, trip and proficiency with austorian weapons.

And then, we get perhaps one of the insanest, most badass races to ever spawn - if the artwork doesn't blow you away, I don't know what will - Echinns are essentially giant humanoid sea urchins - glowing tentacle-like fingers, arachnoid-resembling eyes, bristling spines. O M G. Want. Crunch-wise, they get +2 to Str and Con, -2 to Int and Wis, Pressure and Geopoison immunity, are gilled anthromorphs, get a normal swim speed, low-light vision, can use bioluminescence at will to glow like a torch, get natural AC of +2, cold resistance, +4 to saves versus poisons, echinn weapon familiarity and poisonous spines. Usually I'd complain about the racial attributes gearing them too closely into the melee-roles - but seriously, they simply are TOO COOL.

If you read Alluria's Remarkable Races Compendium, you'll enjoy the aquatic take on the Obitu - neither dead, nor undead, these beings get +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Cha, darkvision 60 ft., +4 to saves versus disease/poison, improved initiative as a bonus feat at 1st level, +2 to acrobatics, escape artist and sleight of hand, 5+ 1/2 character level negative energy resistance and immunity against sleep. And no, they are not undead - they just look that way and thus you won't have to deal with all those pesky immunities. Viden Oculi look somewhat like a beholder - with long rubbery tentacles that act as legs and hands and two of them featuring additional eyes - it's a weird creature to describe and one you'll have to see to truly get. The Viden get +2 to Dex and Wis, -2 to Str, are small aquatic aberrations, can secrete slightly acidic tears as slime from their eye, get 30 ft. swim speed, all-around vision, can shed bioluminescence as a torch, suffer from light blindness, are pressure sensitive and choose two detect spells of the first level, which then are constantly active for the creature. Unfortunately, at least personally, I consider that ANNOYING AS ALL HELL. I hate the detect spells and having to consider two that are permanently in effect just sucks - sorry. It's just busy-work for the DM who will have to look at all those pesky auras all the time. Annoying.

The final new race would be the Abyssal Rusalka, a feykith with a lower torso resembling a jellyfish. These embodiments of deadly beauty get +2 to Cha and Dex, -2 Str, count as feykith, can exude luminescent blood that provides concealment 1/hour, may shed bioluminescence as a torch, get +1 to DCs of enchantment-spells they cast and those of cha 15+ may use charm person 1/day - but what's rather cool is their shirt of tentacles: It AUTOMATICALLY drains 1d4 hp from foes, healing 1 hp to the Rusalka. They may suppress this ability. And I like its idea -though the execution made me cringe...for a second. Creatures have to begin their round in the Ruslka's square (!!!) - not an adjacent square, but the Rusalka's. This is enough of a limitation for me - hence: Two thumbs up!

Deep Drow and anthropomorph crossbreeds of Seafolk and Echinn complete this chapter before we get tables for all the vital age, height and weight/depth tolerance etc.-tables and dive into a discussion of existing classes in a Deep Sea context and get into a new base class, the Angler. Anglers get d8, 6+Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB-progression, good fort-saves and proficiency with light and martial weapon as well as light armor proficiency. And the class is interesting indeed - essentially, its angle (pardon the pun) is battlefield control: They may, via preparation, change 5-foot square upon 5-foot square, into a deadly area - impeding defense, movement, offense - make hindrances only happen to one character etc. - as well as creating traps much like those of the ranger to further pepper the battlefield. Per se a great class, though honestly, I would have loved to see more hindrances/traps, though Drop Dead Studios' "Vauntguard"-class could easily be scavenged for more traps - at least that's what I'll be doing!

We also get 3 10-level PrCs: First would be the Halionaut, who gets d10, 6+Int skills, full BAB, medium fort-saves and essentially are masters of the depth diving, being able to divine how warp pools work, gaining favored terrains both planar and common and terrain mastery for these new terrains, all depending on the chosen terrains. Interesting PrC, though not one that blows me away. Myxinmaves get d6, 4+Int skills per level, 6 levels of spellcasting progression and are all about the hagfish - their slime covering the myxinmave's body with protective coating. They also get a giant hagfish servant, a bite attack that only works against foes with flesh, immunities to all things putrid and an armor of living hagfish as well as the option to transform partially into the creatures, the option to become flexible as if boneless and a poison before gaining a hivemind as a capstone. Cool PrC with some disturbing imagery... (And yes, we get a full page of rules for creating hiveminds and determining their stats - and eventual spawning spellcasting prowess...)

The final new PrC is the Seductor, who gets d8, 6+Int skills per level, 1/2 BAB-progression, medium will-saves, 5 levels of sneak attack progression and essentially are the secret agents of the depths, combining deadly sneak attack with touches that may charm and paralyze foes. while hiding their alignment. Again, not a bad PrC, but not one that got me overly excited.

After that, we're introduced to Special materials and weapons of the deep (the latter coming with full color artworks!!!) before getting, of course, more feats - 21 to be precise. I won't go into details for every one of them, but I will mention the following: Eating special materials to heal yourself, emit a siren song 1/day, dazzle with bioluminescence, expand poison clouds and Viden may take a whole array of feats to transform their base forms and finally even see slightly into the future. Of course, some new toys for anglers , sharper spines for echinns, etc.. can also be found here - my favorite feat, though, would be the female ceratiodi piscean's Dual Mind - after having mate graft himself into your side, you may now use your mate's mind to gain two weapon fighting and ignore dex-requirements for the follow-up feats, get +1 favored class and +4 to saves versus mind-affecting effects. Weird and cool.

Speaking of cool - the 10 new spells are absolutely glorious: Ever wanted to make a foe want to attack him/herself? Or create acidic zones? Yeah. Extinguish pesky bioluminescence? Yep. Or merge part of your body with a greater creature, highjacking its body for your purposes, essentially becoming a parasite? Now THAT hasn't been done before! After 8 new magical items, we dive into the campaign setting specific part of the book with A LOT of awesome adventuring potential.

The Deep Sea Bestiary deserves special mentioning - Alluria's monsters usually at least are good, as are their artworks. Seriously, you have to see this book's bestiary to believe in its existence. We get a minimum of at least one signature ability for each one, but the artworks - OMG. I've never seen anything like it. Seriously. Paizo-level and beyond. These artworks can stand their ground, toe-to-toe with the industry-leader and perhaps even surpass them. Yes. That good. This bestiary may be the most beautiful one I've EVER SEEN. From the disturbing deep sea dragons to squid imps and the alien grandfather worm, these artworks will BLOW YOUR MIND. And the best thing about them is: Their crunch lives up to these artworks. From the humble to the CR 23 behemoth, these creatures are glorious, ooze iconicity and set the bar higher for ANY monster-book out there. Have I mentioned starfish people that manage to look badass?

We also get a pronunciation guide, a list of deep sea critters by CR (including the Bestiaries and Alluria books!), an index of tables, an art index and 1 page of cardstock minis.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches - which is a massive feat at this length. Layout adheres to Alluria Publishing's drop-dead-gorgeous 2-column standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked, though sans printer-friendly version. Expect a massive drain on your printer (or get this in full color print). I HAVE to mention the artworks - even by Alluria's insanely high standards, they are insanely beautiful. They actually are the best-looking artworks I've ever seen in any 3pp-book. They surpass many 1st party publisher artworks, whether Paizo or WotC. It boggles the mind, incites imagination. Thoroughly impressive - the artists have been up to their a-game!

At first, I was blown away - the new races actually included two ones I'd want to play and WILL include in my campaigns - something that rarely happens! When the class and PrCs didn't stand up, at least for me, to the predecessor-pdf's awesomeness, there's nothing particularly wrong with them, but still - my enthusiasm was slightly dampened. And then, via feats and spells and items, the book once again managed to build up tense expectation that was released in a blast in the bestiary and campaign setting information. While I first thought this would clock in as 4 stars after reading the class-section, I can wholeheartedly recommend unanimously ALL THE REST of the book - from terrain to fluff, from crunch to creatures, we get a massive array of superior content that provides some of the coolest creatures to have ever featured in a given bestiary - to the point where any verdict not a 5/5 and a seal of approval would be a disservice to this book's stunningly awesome content - so there you have it. GET THIS! Even if you don't play beneath the waves - for aberrations and strange cthulhoid creatures, there is so incredibly much to scavenge here that I'll guarantee you won't regret getting this, even for usage above the waves.

Opening with a tale of horrific bloodshed and hostility between different peoples, Chapter 1: The Frozen Sea looks at the fascination and fear generated by lands of eternal ice and snow. Although inhospitable at first glance, they boast hardy lifeforms adapted to the conditions on the surface, and teeming multitudes of creatures thriving in the waters below. With limited resources, conflict and hostility towards outsiders are key to survival. The stated intention of this work is to go beyond merely providing an arctic expansion to the Cerulean Seas campaign setting but to go beyond that to present a sourcebook for adventuring in fridgid climes, above or below water, for anyone playing with the Pathfinder ruleset. It's a mix of ancient and modern, fantastic technology swirled in with history and peoples old when the world was young.

Following this introductory material, the chapter goes on to look at the arctic environment and the perils that it poses for anyone wishing to travel or live there. It's not just the cold... there are high winds, uncertain footing from slush to crevasses in ice, deep snowfields and thin ice to contend with.

Next, Chapter 2: Aquatic Polar Races looks at sentient - and playable - races of the arctic regions, both the low-temperature variants of races already provided in the Cerulean Seas product line and wholly-new ones created specifically for this environment. Races not adapted to the environment are rarely found here, certainly not making their homes in arctic regions as the conditions are just too harsh for them. The adapted races are the seafolk, the karkanaks, the selkies, the pisceans, the sea elves and the nommo. The history of how come they have reached the frigid areas of the oceans is covered for each race along with specific anatomical and physiological modifications they have gone through over the ages since their migration. New races include two new species of merfolk, some feykith, ice elves (who appear to be made of ice, they are so transparent) and two quite unique races - the squawk, who are ferocious warlike sentient penguins, and the thanor, chivalric sentient walruses who combine a strict code of honour with a decidedly bloodthirsty streak. Each race is given a full write-up in sufficient detail for creating player-characters or NPCs.

Chapter 3: Aquatic Polar Classes - introduced with a particularly noteworthy picture of a noble squawk warrior - discusses the range of character classes found in arctic regions. Virtually all those that exist in the Cerulean Seas setting are found here as well, although due to the savage nature of many inhabitants the martial classes are predominent. There is also a new class, the angakkuq. This specialises in harnessing spirits - from the world around them and from the one beyond - both to gain information and to power constructs created from inanimate materials found around them, which become familiars. Some prestige classes are also presented here.

Then Chapter 4: Frostcraft looks at life in arctic regions through the resources and equipment available. Aglooliks, a native feykith race introduced earlier, are resourceful tinkerers, producing a range of items often known as aglootech based on their rigorous study of everything from magic to alchemy, engineering and materials science. Naturally a range of weapons have been developed by the arctic races, including - if you use them in your campaign - some firearms (agloolik-made, of course) called fizzlepops. Bizarre indeed, and full details are given on how they function should you wish to allow them. This chapter also contains new feats and spells for the icy seas, as well as details of a new substance called ancient crystal and a selection of magic items.

Next, Chapter 5: Indigo Ice Setting gets specific with the arctic regions for the Cerulean Sea setting itself. Expanded racial histories, notable NPCs and notes on other races which are presented in the following chapter are included here, ready to help you develop the colder parts of your undersea campaign world. Languages and religions are also discussed as well as the nations and political alliances to be found here. Whilst ideas here as well as those throughout the whole book can be used in any frigid underwater realm, this chapter in particular is linked to the Cerulean Sea setting and works best if that's what you are using.

Finally, Chapter 6: Polar Sea Bestiary introduces a wide range of creatures that may be encountered, ranging from savage monsters which will eat you as soon as look at you to minor races which, truth be told, probably are little more friendly. Even looking at the pictures is quite scary!

This is a fascinating presentation of an alien environment, hostile enough in its own right even before you meet the inhabitants who appear unwelcoming to strangers and violent amongst themselves. Yet for the true explorer this could make for some memorable adventures... and the illustrations are wonderful, encapsulating the whole feel of frigid seas!

The work dives straight in with Chapter 1: Underwater Psionics, beginning with the ancient history of the world, right back when there was nothing other than water, no dry land at all. Neither arcane nor divine magic had yet developed, the only power was that of the mind, exerted by will alone. Well, it's a bit difficult to muck about with spellbooks and gestures and incantations, after all, when you're underwater! Innate powers led to greater intelligence and eventually to sentience, an intriguing role for psionics in the development of life. However, once mighty psionically-gifted creatures crawled onto dry land, other forces - notably 'the gods' - stepped in and over the course of time arcane and divine powers were discovered and knowledge of the pure force of will was by and large forgotten.

Laying this epic sweep aside for a moment, we next get the Introduction, all about how the announcement of Psionics Unleashed for the Pathfinder RPG by Dreamscarred Press inspired Alluria Publishing to take a different look at their Cerulean Seas setting, in which it had been intended from the outset that psionics should be important. The result, of course, being this product. Ancient races, inky depths and lots of tentacles go both with an undersea world and with the core concepts of psionics, so it seems a good match. The collaboration worked well, with correspondence between the two publishers resulting in a compatible development, creating a 'universal' theory of psionics that works equally well under and above the waves. However, it's been approached in a modular fashion, such that individual GMs can decide just how important psionics will be, from merely one or two monsters wielding this mysterious power to it being all-pervasive once the water closes over your head.

Background provided, next comes Chapter 2: Aquatic Psionic Races. Here six rich and strange new races are presented, denizens of the deep with, yes, psionic capabilities. Seas are rich with biodiversity and 'new' yet ancient races are always being 'discovered' - even if they have been there all along. The amphian and the melusine are evolutionary branches of the merfolk. Merkoths are sort of sea-cuckoos, being raised by other races rather than their own kind. Asrai are quite unusual, being feykith, a heritage in which psionics are rare. Then there are benthic naga, related to the land-based snake people, and finally the zef, an ancient race that is cousin to the snail-like zif who were introduced in Alluria Publishing's Remarkable Races line.

Each race is given a full write-up from history and appearance to society, racial traits, views on religion and on other folks... all you need to play one as a character or present a vibrant living group as an encounter. Both rules mechanical information and flavour text is presented - rather neatly, each one takes up by a single page (including an illustration), so you could print off the page for an interested player to review if they are considering playing one. The chapter ends with notes on halfbreeds and tables with vital information such as bouyancy and depth tolerance as well as the usual age, height and weight, etc., you normally need for a character race.

Chapter 3 deals with Aquatic Psionic Classes. Most existing psionic classes can be adapted readily enough for races who dwell underwater, and they are discussed in turn. There is also a wholly-new class, the aquanaut, specifically designed for aquatic races. Aquanauts are honed for combat, with the ability to mould their very bodies to effect... each individual comes up with their own unique interpretation. Full details are provided so that this class may be played by any character who qualifies. The mutations are wide and various - extra limbs, a shell, or amour being common. As they rise in level, an aquanaut may choose to develop himself along the lines of a particular species or group of creatures, taking on various characteristics of the creature in question... examples such as jellyfish or crustaceans, sea mammals and molluscs and more are given in detail. There are also some aquatic prestige classes to aim your development towards.

Next, Chapter 4: The Gifted Sea explores feats, powers and items for underwater psionicists; beginning with the statement that the feats of Psionics Unleashed may be used without modification underwater. Other ones may need to be examined and amended as necessary to suit the aquatic environment. There are, of course, some wholly new ones to explore as well. Altered and new psionic powers follow, along with lists for the modified classes presented in Chapter 3 as well as for the aquanaut. A wealth of material here from which to develop your capabilities. The chapter rounds out with a few new psionic items that ought to come in handy.

Chapter 5: Cerulean Seas Psionics provides a glimpse of aquatic psionics as found in the Cerulean Seas setting specifically. Racial histories for the new races presented in Chapter 2 are expanded upon, including famous members of these races and their influences on underwater history... some are still around, and could prove influencial NPC patrons, enemies or contacts. There are similar comments about other races which are described in Chapter 6, deemed unsuitable to be played as characters but potentially influential in the underwater realms nevertheless.

Finally, Chapter 6: Psionic Sea Bestiary presents a range of creatures that are both aquatic and psionic. Not all are 'monsters' in the true sense, but many may wish to fight rather than parlay. Everything from stat blocks and illustrations to descriptions and likely behaviour are provided. I don't think I've met any of them whilst diving, but they are so well-written and developed that I wouldn't be too startled to find myself adding a cerebral crab or a mindshrimp swarm to the 'observations' column of my logbook!

This is a fascinating read and, even if you normally shy away from psionics, is worth considering if you are planning underwater adventures - it's a strange world, under the sea, and if your dry land campaign is psionics-light, this could be another way to highlight the 'otherness' of the depths. Everything is clear and thought out well, it all hangs together and provides plenty of scope for development of a truly unique experience underwater.

I cannot recommend this product more. This is an elegant solution to a problem that my d&d group has struggled with for some time - how do we deal with three dimensions in combat? You actually get two helpful solutions here: 1) tracker trees, which allow for three dimensional combat, and 2) cubes, which give height in one inch increments. No more shot glasses, bottles, or whatever else we could find lying around.

This book provides the details to construct tracker trees, as well as some useful printouts. You do need to buy some materials at the hardware store and/or art supply store, and you need to have a little bit of the crafting skill in you. I spent one whole day on the project, and the look on my players faces when I pulled them out was worth the work. I am no longer afraid of three dimensions, in fac6t, I can now embrace them!

The introduction makes one thing clear: You have not read a book like this before. Ever. This sourcebook is about the arctic clime, yes, but not on humano-centric cultures, though it lends somewhat from Icelandic, Norse, Inuit etc. traditions), but on recent realizations of how much the world beneath the waves shapes the polar regions. Combine that with the fact that in Cerulean Seas, there is not much dry land and we have an interesting base assumption. More interesting yet, at least imho, would be the fact that logical assumptions have been taken: In order for any culture to thrive in a land of few resources and extremes, the resulting culture developing from it would require a sense of progressive-mindedness and war-like aspirations. Against this backdrop merging progress and tradition, arcane and technological and the struggle for survival, we are introduced to this book's core concepts.

A special mention deserve here the artworks - the "City that never thaws" and most of the other artworks herein follow a cohesive, extremely high quality style that is not only consistent in itself, but also with the high quality artworks Alluria Publishing has featured in their other Cerulean Seas-products. In fact, some of them may even surpass them due to feeling more iconic, but more on that later in the conclusion. The pdfs begins with environmental undersea environments, glaciers and slush swamps as well as hazards for the respective areas, which include e.g. acidic slushes, catabatic winds, wind chills and cohesive rules for breaking through ice. All in all, a cool chapter that is useful for any cold climate, not just those in the Cerulean Seas-setting.

The second chapter is all about races and kicks off with a revisit to the classic races of the Cerulean Seas setting as well as Waves of Thought before including new races - which, of course, all come with the trademark pieces of information on buoyancy, types etc. The first new race would be the Aglooik, small feykith (only two and a half page) and they get +2 to Dex, Int, -2 to Con, 30 ft. speed, get +1 to ref saves versus electricity, steam and acid, +2 to Knowledge (engineering), Profession (engineering), Craft or disable device as well as proficiency with any aglootech-weapon, but more on that later. The second new race would be the arctic, cold, charming and professional Crystolix, who get +2 Int and Cha, -2 Str, must take skill focus (diplomacy), +2 to appraisal, cold resistance 10 as well as +2 to saves against spells and effects that would result in negative conditions. Interesting race that can be played as creepily friendly. The transparent Ice Elves get +2 to Dex and Wis, immunity to cold and fire vulnerability, +1 to AC when touching water and at a depth of 300 ft. or less as well as a spell-like ability to use ice water-jet and +1 DC to saving throws against cold spells they can cast.

The Talilajuk Ningen are special fishfolk: Based on Belugawhales, they can breathe air and get +4 Str, -2 Str, are fast, must take Skill Focus (Stealth) as their merfolk-bonus-feat and gain blindsense while in water. The coolest new race, perhaps would be the Squawk - mechanically, these beings get +2 to Str and Con, -2 to Int, are small at a fast movement rate of 30 ft., get +1 dodge bonus to AC and CMD, +2 to saves versus poisons, spells and spell-like abilities and always count as wearing cold weather outfits and proficiency with skiths. What are they? They are a race of deadly warriors living in a martial society of penguin-like humanoids. And yes, the artworks actually manage to make that work - squawks are bad@ss! The Thanor are a race of walrus-like humanoids who get +4 to Con + 2 to Str, -2 to Dex, -2 to Wis, are large and have lungs, +1 natural AC, only a speed of 30 ft., always count as wearing cold weather outfits and natural attacks with their tusks.

Pinniparian and Seafolk-crossbreeds are also covered and the vital statistics like age, height and weight tables are part of the deal as well. In chapter 3, the roles of the different classes (including psionic ones) in the cold waters of Isinblare are covered. The chapter also features new classes, the first one being the Angakkuq base-class, who get 3/4 BAB-progression, d8, 4+Int skills per level, proficiency with light and medium armor, prepared divine spellcasting of up to 6th level via Cha as key attribute and get the option to create a Tupilaq: Somewhat similar to eidolons, these creatures are created from either flora, fauna or frost and can share spells with their masters and be enhanced etc, learn tricks à la animal companions etc. - a great alternative to the druid base-class with its fetishistic creature.

The chapter also includes new PrCs: The Conulair is singular among PrCs in that is requires a cool oath as well as is based on an interesting concept - mechanically, the class gets d10, 2+Int skills, full BAB, medium fort-saves and several cold-adaption powers. The cool thing about the PRC, though, is that entry actually bonds the applicant with a semi-conscious symbiote that grants the creature the respective powers and allows them not only to create deadly rimefire powers and may also choose frostboons. An excellent, iconic PrC! The second class is just as awesome and is imho the best rules-take I've seen on the concept: The Cyrokineticist, a psionic class who gets d8, 2+Int skills, 3/4 BAB-progression, medium fort-and ref-saves as well as a variety of abilities that include rimefire weaponry, flash-freezing etc. - analogue to the pyrokinetist a warrior-style class. Nice to see some psionic support beyond the Waves of Thought supplement. There is also the Cryomancer-PrC (d6, 2+Int skills, 9/10th spell-casting progression, 1/2 BAB-progression, medium will-saves),a nm arcane specialist of cold-based magic.

In chapter 4, we are introduced to the art of Frostcraft, but what is that? Well, first of all it's about arctic materials, bartering and how economies work in the polar context, including compressed air, ice rubber etc., which make a whole new class of item possible: So-called Aglootech. Unsurprisingly pioneered by said race, the class of items includes new weapons (by the way, all of which are rendered in gorgeous full color) that use this fizzling to create rifles, pistols etc. that propel nail-like projectiles through the waves, pneumatic blades and spears can be found in this chapter alongside the skitch-battle-scythes of the Squawk, ice blades. Also rather extremely cool regarding artworks: How exactly such rifles work is shown in a neat schematic that also provides enlarged and named components for the respective weapons. When harpoon-like rifles are possible, it should come as no surprise that there also are massive harpoon-cannons based on this technology to be found.

We also get a table for the 24 new feats herein, some of which allow angakkuqs to enhance their tupilaqs, grant squawks natural attacks and improved combat prowess with their signature skith, expand ningen blindsight, allow ice-elves to coat weapons in damaging ice and even pierce cold resistance with your cold resistance. The new class also gets an extensive spell-list and we also get an aquatic magus spell-list, which is neat to have indeed. I applaud one decision by Alluria: Instead of contributing to spell-bloat, we get 10 spells that adhere to the maxim of class instead of mass. From a spell that allows you to partially take on aquatic animal characteristics, one to encapsulate foes in ice or one to use the new entombed quality. Of course, you may also create a rancid murk that carries a plethora of debilitating diseases and unleash it into the waves.
The arctic "lands" of Isinblare are also rich in a material called Ancient Crystal, which can provide an array of interesting qualities to benefit from or be hindered by. 3 new magical items, also with gorgeous, perhaps even above-paizo-level artworks, complete the package of the chapter.

Chapter 5 is where the setting-specific pieces of information for the region of Isinblare in the context of the Cerulean Seas-setting can be found. (And yes, that means until now, the book was all about material just about any campaign could use). In tradition with the Cerulean Seas-setting, we get what amounts to essentially short racial histories of the respective races, each of which comes with a fluff-only write-up of a famous personality of the respective race. Beyond the main playable races, though, we also get pieces of information on the civilization of races from the bestiary. Languages and their speakers are part of what is provided, as are 6 deities and write-ups of the nations and big cities to be found in the realms of indigo ice, though the latter lack city statblocks. The maps provided do their job, though they admittedly fall far behind the quality of the artworks and feel slightly out of place.

In tradition with other Alluria Publishing-releases, the final chapter provides us with a bestiary-section, which includes fiskheim akhluts, domesticated huge versions of the regular akhluts, aquatic bears, the fish-humanoid Brothers of Frost , a new song dragon, the riding penguins called Kairaku, two new types of ningen, a wicked fey of frozen glaciers, seal variants (both mundane and partially represented as the sunhunter as a deadly glacier-predator and more: Take e.g. living ice-float constructs, ice-breaker whales, AWESOME-looking ice leviathans, ice kraken, orcoths and tizheruks and even ice liches. Alluria books are usually beautiful. These monster-illustrations, though, transcend even some of the offerings I've seen by WotC and paizo - mind-boggling and awesome. Also, each of the creatures gets some kind of interesting (sometimes even multiple) signature abilities. Arctic/Aquatic mounts and war-beasts are also covered, with e.g. animal companion stats.

Beyond even this content, we get an index of aquatic polar monsters by CR(including up to Bestiary 3, Creepy Creatures and all Cerulean Sea-books), pronunciation guidelines, a table that lists all tables, an art-index, 8 card-stock minis and a small poem on the last page.

Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches - quite a feat at this length. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks and its layout adheres to Cerulean Seas' two-column full-color standard and is, still, among the most dazzling out there. The artworks deserve special mentioning: Where Waves of Thought and even Cerulean Seas had an odd one out here and there, Indigo Ice goes above and beyond: These artworks are so beautiful, I honestly can't recall having EVER seen such a beautiful book by any 3pp - this ranks, presentation-wise, among the very best and in fact, at least imho, surpasses even multiple paizo-books. The supplement unfortunately comes sans printer-friendly version and if you can, I suggest you get the full-color print. If the print is half as beautiful as the pdf, you'll still have a drop-dead gorgeous book.

When I read the premise of the book, I was honestly doubting whether this would interest me: Cerulean Seas is a peculiar set of rules/setting and combining them with the frozen north seemed problematic to me at best: Especially with Kobold Press' Northlands already doing a great of Norse-themed fantasy, albeit above the waves. Indigo Ice thankfully takes a different approach: Blending Norse themes with a large dose of Inuit-myth (something seen all too rarely) the setting is something different altogether from the sum of its component parts: Flavor-wise, the vibe that best describes the indigo Ice is imho a pulpy underlying theme of a harsh land of harsh people coated with more than a fair share of original ideas (Spartan penguins actually are much more badass than you'd think!) and mixed up with technology that creates a combination of themes both in line with traditionalist mythologies and a sense of ancientness as well as with the throes of progress and a feeling of being on the dawning of a new age.
The weapons with their details (and especially the extremely detailed schematic that depicts it) make what would otherwise be a ridiculous concept feel believable. In fact, that's pretty much the crowning achievement of Indigo Ice: Many concepts may sound ridiculous when paraphrased in a review such as this, but the unity of stellar artwork, superb rules and excellent writing combine to make them work: To the extent where even usually gun-less campaigns can probably use these weapons sans breaking the suspension of disbelief. Now the fact that neither class, nor feats or any other component of the pdf can be considered broken or unbalanced further serves to boost the overall impression of excellence that withstands even closer scrutiny.
Beyond the usefulness of the book as a whole, I feel obliged to mention that the races, items and ideas herein can enrich campaigns in any northern setting, not necessarily only ones beneath the waves: If your PCs only plan sojourns into the frozen depths, then this pdf will still provide extremely fine critters, feats and intriguing civilizations for you to scavenge and add.

To cut a long ramble that gushes about artworks, monsters and weapons, the potential usability for underwater-steampunk-adventures (if you emphasize Aglootech further) and the quality of the writing short: This book is a truly excellent addition to Alluria's oeuvre and its quality stand up to the highest standards you could demand, the one shortcoming being the maps in the campaign setting-section and the lack of city statblocks, but which in no way would justify rating this superb, surprisingly consistent book down: My final verdict will be 5 stars + seal of approval.

I'm happy with this purchase. The new races are interesting, if a little bit silly (Spartan Penguins!) The new class - the angakkuq - is a like a combination of a shaman and a summoner. They are able to give life to constructs made of ice, plant matter and even animal carcasses. I appreciate the use of Inuit lore, this is something I've never seen in a role playing game. The fluff of the book can be used outside of the Pathfinder system and even in a game that is not set completely underwater.